The painting originally hung in Chapin and Gore's Saloon and Restaurant, old Chicago landmark, when it was located at 73-75 (now 20-22) West Monroe Street, Chicago, Illinois.

Subject Description

Caricature of Charles Benjamin Farwell, 1823-1903, full length, facing slightly right. He has a gray moustache and beard and is wearing a black suit, white shirt and black bow tie. His right hand points to five playing cards (all Aces) which he holds in his left hand. Above the playing cards are the words: "The best I can do for any of/my Friends, Long JOHN/not/expected". At the left is a tall man with spectacles in a black suit leaning over him. A brown rooster stands at the tall man's feet. in lower right corner is a boy in gray and brown striped shirt, gray trousers and straw hat holding a pamphlet in his left hand and beside him the words "You See T' was/the Clubs/that Done it". Mosquitoes sucking blood from leaning man. Farwell was a merchant and United States Senator from Illinois.

Curatorial Statement

At the end of the 19th century, Chicago's Chapin and Gore Saloon was a nationally renowned franchise of seven watering holes. Catering to businessmen -and men only- downtown, the owners made and distributed their own brand of spirits. To make these spaces distinctive and to enhance their brand, the saloons were extravagantly covered in newspaper style caricatures lampooning well known figures of the time. Many of the caricatures were simple ink sketches, but the saloons also boasted major works in oil, including those by Theodore Wust, William Schmedtgen and Richard Wallis.